Here we go again...
You have to wonder just what some of the coaches in the Pac 10 are thinking. All the sloppy wet kisses that were thrown USC's way at yesterday's media day are just mind-boggling. I realize that some of the opposing players aren't going to by into it (more on them later), that's to be expected, but the coaches? Why not just forfeit now and save us all the wear and tear. Heck if we're so great just hand us the trophy now and be done with it.
I am not interested in seeing a repeat of 2005. You could argue that the offensive side of the could be in the top 2 or 3 of all time but that defense was put together with spit and toilet paper. This year the defense will the unit to watch with some marquis players but the offense has some questions I don't care how many running backs we have.
I know I quoted some of this stuff earlier but when taken as a whole its just crazy, you have to read some of this stuff...
From Dennis Erickson:
From Jim Harbaugh (a bit tongue in cheek)
Now from the players perspective.
From ucla's Bruce Davis, from Pat Forde's Article on ESPN.com:
Dorrell, as is his buttoned-down custom, wouldn't go there. Fork back in hand, Davis tried not to go there, either, but he couldn't help it when the subject was raised again a few minutes later. The UCLA players have spent their careers hearing how great their crosstown rival is, and even upsetting the Trojans last season obviously hasn't quelled the hype.
"I think that's part of the arrogance that comes with USC. They've earned that, but are they the best college football team ever? No. What about the great Oklahoma teams, the Miamis, the Florida States? ... They have no right to do that, and I think that's disrespectful to the history of college football.
"If people want to say they're the greatest, yeah, that's fine. But what does that make us, if we beat the best college football team ever?"
Well Bruce I would say...how about LUCKY! We've gone down this road before. The fact is the bruins caught SC looking past them and SC paid the price for it. I have said it before and I will say it again...ucla's win defined their season. That was all they had to hang their hat on s they squandered the momentum they had going by losing to Half Assed U in some 3rd tier bowl game. Put another way, the highlight of your season is to say that you kept SC out of the MNC game. Great job guys, that's all you get.
And then there is this from Cal's MeSean, I mean DeSean Jackson from Jeff Miller's piece the OC Register:
"I don't know about all the talk," he said of Trojans 24/7. "I mean, they lost all their receivers. They're a great team, a great program. But separating them from the rest of the conference? That's uncalled for."
OK, now we're getting somewhere.
"They lost last season to Oregon State and UCLA, teams we beat," Jackson continued. "That shows us right there they can be beaten. And this year, they gotta come to Cal. I ain't gonna support all this talk too much."
You're right MeSean we did lose to those teams and you did beat those teams but I seem to remember that WE beat you at the Coliseum or should I refresh your memory?
Remember this?!
I'm Glad you were able to get up though!
At least there was some common sense on Thursday.
From Jill Painters piece in the DN:
"Sometimes it does," Booty said. "We don't feel we're worthy of (Harbaugh's statement). That's the kind of take we have, which is good. That's how it should be."
In essence, Booty doesn't want the Trojans to succumb to the hype either, but that was a tough task Thursday. Good thing freshmen weren't at the Sheraton Gateway near LAX. They would've flown back to campus without a plane.
So I hope its not 2005 all over again and that we can worry about the play on the field and not the crap from ESPN and the like.